Eivind S. Homme: JP/R. Berto Wedhatama
In its quest for a stronger presence in Asia, Norway, a wealthy Nordic country, has recently begun showing a special interest in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.
Like Indonesia, Norway is endowed with a wealth of natural resources including petroleum, natural gas, hydropower, fish, forests and minerals. On top of this, Norway has a US$375 billion oil fund, which invests in bonds, stocks and projects all over the world.
The Norwegian interest comes at the right time for Indonesia, which is desperately looking for new markets and investments in the midst of the global financial crisis.
“We have an excellent relationship with Indonesia. Though we have a number of dimensions to it [the relationship], our main focus is on energy, climate and economic cooperation with regard to Indonesia,” Norway’s new Ambassad...